Uncovering the Past
9 total works
Transcontinental Railroads looks at the sweeping changes made to society and the challenges created by the building and running of the railroads in North America. Readers will be encouraged to critically analyze source material on why the railroads were built, who built them, and how they changed the movement of people and products. Topics include settlement and nation-building, as well as who gained through railroad building—and who lost.
This timely title examines the internment of “enemy aliens” in the United States and Canada during the Second World War. With particular emphasis on the plight of Japanese-American and Canadian citizens, the book reveals the events, mindsets, and policies leading up to and following the forced removal of thousands of citizens from their homes into internment camps. Real-life accounts help readers examine differing perspectives on the events, think critically about citizenship and diversity in North America, and understand how harmful stereotypes in today’s global climate run the risk of repeating past mistakes.
Black Tuesday and the Great Depression explores the causes of the stock market crash in 1929 and the resulting Great Depression felt not only in North America, but worldwide. Source material, including posters, political cartoons, books, interviews, and articles show the devastation of the resulting mass unemployment, epidemic real estate foreclosures, and crushing poverty of those years.
This examination of how early gold rushes shaped settlement and industry in North America uses material from the 1848 California Gold Rush, the 1896 Klondike Gold Rush, and other rushes in Georgia, Montana, and British Columbia. Primary and secondary sources about these rushes are examined with respect to race and ethnicity, the displacement of Indigenous peoples, and different perspectives on law and order in the emerging West.
In the 1800s, the Underground Railroad was a system of secret routes and safe places to hide for black slaves trying to escape to freedom. This astonishing book details the evidence that led up to the acceptance of slavery as well as the rejection of it. Readers will discover that when faced with evidence of the plight of slaves, such as slave auction posters, engravings, photographs, and interviews, white people had varying views depending on whether they benefited from slavery themselves. Readers will learn how prejudice and circumstances at the time of an event can influence people's interpretation of evidence and how that perspective can change over time. They will also learn how to use critical thinking in their own examinations of evidence. Present-day examples show how history repeats itself when evidence is denied or interpreted to one side's benefit.
This intriguing title looks at the pivotal crisis from the Cold War during which the Soviet Union set up nuclear missiles in Cuba. Readers are introduced to the key players, including Castro, Khrushev, and Kennedy, and the intricacies of the crisis are covered including proxy wars, communication systems, and the outcome. A final chapter examines relations today and explores the idea that a new Cold War with Russia may be looming.